Signal-lamp.



A. H. HANDLAN, JR.

SIGNAL LAMP. APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

1,016,624. Patented Feb.6,1912."

. A H H mentoxzlz Ciu. .m'=@ gan tan, r'. /aby mwhbb'ys.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0 WASHINGTON. D. c.

A. H. HANDLAN, JR.

SIGNAL LAMP, APPLICATIQN FILED MAY 20, 1911.

Patented Feb. 6, 1912. I

2 SHBETSSHEET 2.

ALEXANDER I-I. HANDLAN, JR, OF ST. LOUIE, MISSOURI.

SIGNAL-LAMP.

Application filed May 20, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER H. HAND- LAN, Jr, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Signal-Lamps, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to a signal lamp or lantern intended more particularly to be used upon railway cars, and locomotives, and is in the nature of an improvement upon Letters Patent of the United States No. 689,621, issued December 24, 1901, to Ernest Everett Noble.

One of the objects of the present improvement is to provide a rotatable device Within the shell of a signal lamp that serves as a support for a lamp font, held from rotation relative to such means, and which carries a shield movable into position to obstruct the passage of rays of light from the lamp burner through either one or another of the difierent colored lamp lenses.

Another object of the present improvement is to provide a lamp font supporting and shield carrying device furnished with a pivot member operable in a bottom plate of the shell and having means for limiting the vertical movement of the font supporting and shield carrying device when it is being adjusted.

A further object of the invention is to provide simple, inexpensive, and efficient means for securing the lenses to the body or shell of the lamp.

Figure I is a side elevation of my signal lamp. Fig. II is a vertical section through the lamp. Fig. III is a horizontal section taken on line IIIIII, Fig. II. Fig. IV is a horizontal section taken on line IVIV, Fig. II. Fig. V is in part an inverted plan view of the central portion of the bottom in the lamp body and in part a horizontal section taken on line VV, Fig. II.

In the accompanying drawings: 1 designates the shell of my signal lamp in which are lens openings 2.

3 are lenses of different colors arranged exteriorly of the lamp shell 1 and bearing against such shell around the lens openings, as seen in Fig. I, so that the shell serves as a seat for the lenses. The lenses are con- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

serial No. 628,358.

fined within frames 4 secured to the lamp body and having outwardly jutting side, top and bottom flanges 5. Each lens is held in its receiving frame by horizontal binding wires 6, which extend through the side flanges of the frames and are provided with draw nuts 7 by which the wires may be drawn tightly to the lenses for the purpose of holding them firmly seated against the portions of the lamp shell surrounding the lens openings.

8 designates a bottom plate rigidly mounted within the shell 1 above its bottom edge. This bottom plate is provided with a depressed circular central portion 9, (see Figs. II and V), and in the depressed portion 9 are vertical apertures 10.

11 designates a shield carrier that is loosely arranged within the lamp shell above the bottom plate 8 and is provided with an upwardly projecting edge flange 12 that carries an opaque curved shield 13 adapted to be adjusted within the lamp shell to prevent the passage of rays of light from the interior of the lamp through either of the lenses 3. The shield carrier 11 has centrally fixed to it a disk 14: located at the bottom of the carrier and loosely seated in the depressed central portion 9 of the bottom plate 8. This disk 14 is provided with a downwardly extending neck 15 that passes loosely through a central aperture in the depressed portion 9 of the bottom plate and has a threaded stem 16 to which a hand wheel or handle 17 is removably affixed. The disk 1A is also provided with a downwardly extending retaining pin or lug 18 that is adapted to enter into one or another of the apertures 10 in the bottom plate 8 to hold said disk and shield carrier 11 from rotation, except when these members have been elevated, as will hereinafter appear to lift the pin 18 out of the perforation in which it was previously seated.

19 designates a pocket plate mounted on .the base of the shell carrier 11 and provided with an upwardly extending annular flange 20. This pocket member serves as a receptacle in which the lamp font A is loosely seated to permit of the rotation of the shield carrier 11 and the parts fixed thereto without movement being imparted to the lamp font. The lamp font may be of any ordinary description and is provided with a burner B having a wick raising rod C, that is of suflicient length to extend to the exterior of the shell 1 of the signal lamp, in order that the wick raising rod may be operated to adjust the lamp wick in the burner B without opening the lamp.

In the shell 1 of the lamp is a key hole slot 1 through which the wick raising rod G extends and in which said rod is so seated as to provide for its holding the lamp font A from rotation when the shield carrier 11 is rotated to change the position of the shield 13 for the purpose of preventing the passage of rays of light from the burner B through either one or another of the lenses 3. The slot 1 through which the wick raising rod extends is normally closed by a slide or gate 21 of ordinary construction, and for which no invention is herein claimed.

In the practical use of my signal lamp, the shield carrierll is quickly operated to shift the shield 13 from a position in front of one lens to a position in front of the other lens by the simple act of grasping the hand wheel 17 raising and rotating it. When the shield carrier is so moved, the lamp font A remains in a stationary position while the shield carrier rotates relatively thereto and, as a con sequence, the broad side of the flame in the lamp is always presented to the lens through which rays of light are projected, whereby the greatest efliciency of the flame is always obtained. It is quite apparent that when the lamp font turns with the shield carrier, as provided for in the Noble Patent N 0. 689,621, hereinbefore referred to, there is opportunity for the font shifting in the shield carrier, with the result of presenting the flame in the lamp edgewise to the lens, with imperfect projection of light therethrough; and with this in mind, the importance of my improvement over what is shown and described in the Noble patent will be readily appreciated. Attention is also directed to the fact that by providing the flanged pocket member 19 for the recep tion of the lamp font, said font is always held in a central position within the lamp shield, while the shield carrier turns beneath and around the font, and that consequently the lamp burner and the flame burning therefrom are always centrally positioned relative to a lens through which rays of light from the flame are projected. The bottom plate 8 on which the shield carrier 11 rests provides a firm and complete support for the shield carrier 11 and the neck 15 extending downwardly from the shield carrier, together with the hand wheel 17, serve as guiding and stop members for the shield carrier, thus permitting true vertical movement of the shield carrier and only sufficient elevation of said carrier to provide for the disengagement of the retaining pin 18 from the bottom plate, in order that the shield carrier may be adjusted in the lamp shield. It will be seen that this construction makes it possible to elevate the shield carrier only to the proper degree to allow its adjustment, and without any liability of the shield carrier being tilted or canted to a degree that will cause interference between the carrier or shield 13 and the lamp shell that would impede the actuation of the carrier and shield. For this reason, the shield carrier may be always quickly and accurately adjusted by the simple acts of grasping the hand wheel 17 exerting an upward pressure thereon to lift the retaining pin 18 out of aperture 10 in the bottom plate 8, and then rotating the hand wheel, sufficiently to operate the carrier until the shield 13 is moved from one lens to another lens, following which the parts are allowed to return to their normal positions, with the retaining pin seating in another aperture 10 than that in which it was previously seated.

My signal lamp is designed to be supported for any desired adjustment of the entire lamp by a bracket ring 21, in which the lamp shell may be rotated to place either or any lens of the signal lamp so that it will be observable from a single point of view. The lamp shell is loosely mounted in the bracket ring, as seen in Fig. IV. Within the lamp shell at its bottom is a cross bar 22 and loosely mounted in this cross bar is a latch rod 23 that extends through the shell and seats in any one of a plurality of notches in the bracket ring for the purpose of holding the lamp shell from accidental movement in the bracket ring. It will be understood that by thus mounting the signal lamp, I make it possible to so adjust the lamp in its support as to provide for any lens of the lamp being disposed at any side of the lamp without removing the lamp from its support.

I claim 1. In a signal lamp, a shell provided with a plurality of lenses, a shield carrier rotatable in said shell, a shield carried by said shield carrier adapted to obstruct the egress of rays of light through any of said lenses, and a font loosely mounted on said shield carrier and held from rotation by said shell.

2. In a signal lamp, a shell provided with a plurality of lenses, a shield carrier rotatable in said shell, a shield carried by said shield carrier adapted to obstruct the egress of rays of light through any of said lenses, and a font loosely mounted on said shield carrier, the font being provided with a burner having a wick raising rod extending through said shell and holding the font from rotation with the shield carrier.

3. In a signal lamp, a shell provided with a plurality of lenses, a bottom plate in said shell above its lower edge, a shield carrier .rotatable above said bottom plate, a shield extending upwardly from said carrier, and a font loosely mounted on said carrier and held from rotation by said shell.

4:. In a signal lamp, a shell provided with a plurality of lenses, a bottom plate in said shell above its lower edge, a shield carrier rotatable above said bottom plate, a shield extending upwardly from said carrier, means extending downwardly from said carrier through said bottom plate by which said carrier may be rotated, and a font loosely mounted on said carrier and held from rotation by said shell.

5. In a signal lamp, a shell provided with a plurality of lenses, a bottom plate in said shell above its lower edge, a shield carrier rotatable above said bottom plate provided with a font receiving pocket member, a shield extending upwardly from said carrier, means extending downwardly from said carrier through said bottom plate by which said carrier may be rotated, and a font loosely mounted in said pocket memher and held from rotation by said shell.

6. In a signal lamp, a shell provided with a plurality of lenses, a bottom plate in said shell above its lower edge provided with a central. depression, a shield carrier above said bottom plate having a central disk rotatable above said depression in the bottom plate, a shield extending upwardly from said carrier, means extending downwardly from said carrier through the depressed portion of said bottom plate by which the carrier may be rotated, and a font loosely mounted in said carrier and held from rotation by said shell.

7. In a signal lamp, a shell provided with a plurality of lenses, a bottom plate in said shell above its lower edge, a shield carrier rotatable above said bottom plate, a shield extending upwardly from said carrier, means for rotating said shield carrier eX- tending downwardly from the shield carrier through the bottom plate whereby the shield carrier may be elevated previous to rotation thereof, and which serves to limit the upward movement of the shield carrier, and a font loosely mountedin said carrier and held from rotation by said shell.

8. In a signal lamp, a shell provided with a plurality of lenses, a bottom plate in said shell above its lower edge, a shield carrier above said bottom plate and having means engaging the bottom plate for holding it from rotation when it is in a lowered position, a neck extending downwardly from said shield carrier, and loosely through said bottom plate, a handle fitted to said neck whereby the shield carriermay be elevated and rotated, said handle serving as a stop to limit the upward movement of the shield carrier, and a font loosely mounted on said carrier and held from rotation by said shell.

ALEXANDER II. HANDLAN, JR. In the presence of- R. J. MOGAULEY, E. B. LINN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

